Draw the Circle

InterAct Theatre Company continues its successful festival Outside the Frame: Voices from the Other America with the world premiere production of Draw the Circle, a new autobiographical work from transgender playwright/performer Deen. Unlike most autobiographical plays, the story in Circle isn’t told from the author’s point of view. Instead, Deen tells his story about change, identity and acceptance from the point of view of those closest to him, such as his female partner, his friends and his family members, particularly his parents, conservative American-Muslim immigrants who struggle to accept their daughter as their son. Perhaps the only professional theater production in Philadelphia this season that explores the transgender experience, Deen explains that Circle is ultimately about “family and longing.” In this engrossing and revealing new play, we watch characters struggle to reconcile their longing for who they want a person to be with “the truth of what’s happening in front of them.” -J. Cooper Robb